Photos: Taiwan’s TransAsia plane crash claims 47 lives

Taiwan TransAsia Airways twin turboprop, Flight 222 crashed at an airport when it unsuccessfully tried to land during the bad stormy weather in Taiwan which ended up killing 47 passengers and injuring 11, as reported by The New York Times.

TransAsia Airways plane.

The unfortunate plane that carried 58 passengers including 4 crew members was flying from the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung heading towards Magong on the Penghu Islands during the heavy rain as Typhoon Matmo passed across the island.

Flight 222 that was originally scheduled to depart at 4.00pm was delayed for 1 hour and 40 minutes due to the bad weather. The plane however crashed when it attempted to make a second landing but failed. This was believed to be caused by the typhoon in Taiwan.

Debris of the crashed plane.

The New York Times also reported that the local Transportation Ministry said the plane which killed 47 people had crashed into residential buildings in a village near Magong and caught on fire.

The fire alerted the residents in that area, where one of the residents told TVBS that he did hear a loud bang but he thought it was just thunder, but then he realized that it was a crash after he saw fire at the scene, “The fire was extremely big, it burned even in the heavy rain.”

The fire caused by the explosion of the plane.

Not long after the tragic incidents involving two Malaysian Airline planes, MH370 and MH17, this latest tragedy is another misfortune from the aviation world.

Previously in 2002, it was reported that TransAsia had one fatal crash with an ATR in 2002. The crash was believed to be caused by severe icing.